Honey Lemon Poppyseed Cake

We've come to the point in the wedding planning stages where we are now counting down the DAYS! It's 7 days to go to the ceremony, and then we'll be home free to just be a married couple - no more wedding planning, no more invitation lists, seating charts, fabric samples, and endless other things. I can't wait.

In the madness of it all, I wanted - nay, needed, to get some solid baking time in. It's been almost 2 or 3 months since I actually full on made something in the kitchen that's worth sharing. 

I feel the need to point out that despite what everyone may think of me, including myself, I haven't been a Bridezilla at all throughout this whole process! I honestly thought I would be, what with all my Pinterest boards, my Disney, fairy tale wonderland personality, etc. I suppose, at the end of the day, all I really care about is being married to the man I love, and being able to spend the rest of our lives together doing completely mundane things. The thing I look forward to the most is spending Saturday mornings and afternoons with him in our own home, having a lazy brunch and cleaning the house after ignoring it all week cos we're both too busy at work. And foot massages. Yes, I look forward to being on the receiving end of those, whenever I want them. For free. 

Hehe, anyway, last weekend while we were trying to pull our invitation list into some semblance of sense to then be able to convert it into a seating chart... I was struck by the overwhelming desire to make something. I was also lucky that the recipe I chose to test is one that uses a lot of readily available ingredients. I'm really happy with how this turned out, and I think this frosting might possibly my new favourite thing. 

Honey Lemon Poppyseed Cake
Recipe from the Hungry Rabbit

For the Cake

• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cup cake flour
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
• Smidge of fine sea salt
• 240g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3 tbsp blue poppy seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, and line 3 8" round cake tins with parchment paper
2. In your mixing bowl bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and salt until evenly spread
3. Whisk the eggs, coconut milk and vanilla extract in a small bowl before adding the mixture to the flour with the mixing paddle set on low speed
4. When all the egg mix has gone in, add the butter and increase the speed to low-medium while you mix to ensure everything combines and the butter is even
5. Stir in the poppy seeds by hand, then divide the batter into three tins, spread it out and bake for 15-20 minutes or until your kitchen smells like cake and a tester inserted into the cake at an angle comes out clean
6. Cool the cakes in their tin for 10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely

For the (amazing) honey lemon curd filling

• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/4 cup honey
• 30g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into tiny cubes
• 1 tbsp heavy cream
• A few drops vanilla essence
• Pinch of fine sea salt

1. While the cakes are baking, make the curd (haha I've been watching too much GBBO and am tempted to stop here)
2. Seriously though, over a low heat and in a heavy bottomed heat resistant saucepan, heat the lemon juice until just hot but not boiling
3. Whisk the eggs and yolk in a medium heat resistant bowl, and gradually add the honey as you're doing so
4. Gently trickle in the hot lemon juice, whisking as you do, then return the mixture to the saucepan to cook over a low-medium heat. Stir constantly until the mixture begins to thicken. Be careful of scrambling the eggs. 
5. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter until incorporated, then stir in cream, vanilla and salt. Strain the mix through a fine mesh strainer into a glass bowl, cover with cling wrap - directly onto the curd to prevent a skin from forming - and pop it into the fridge until ready to use

For the (ridiculously delicious) honey cream cheese frosting

• 114g unsalted butter, softened (but not melty and slouchy)
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 240g cream cheese, chilled but softened (trust me, warm cream cheese makes for gross looking frosting)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup honey

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk the sugar, cream cheese and butter with the paddle attachment until fully combined (the original recipe says to do sugar and butter first, then adding the cream cheese after, but I'm lazy) 
2. Add the cream, honey and vanilla and beat again on medium to high speed until just combined (take care not to over beat as this will result in a too runny frosting). 
3. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp tea towel and refrigerate until needed

Assembly

• When the cake has cooled completely, swipe a small teaspoon of cream cheese frosting onto the bottom of the cake plate and place one piece of cake on top (I do this to prevent the cake from sliding around while I'm frosting). Spread half of the honey lemon curd on top, until about 1/2" off the sides of the cake, then top with another layer and the remaining curd. Place the top layer bottom side up and gently press down to level
• Apply a crumb coat of frosting on the top and sides of the cake and refrigerate for half an hour to set. Spread frosting on the top and sides of the cake, drizzle with honey or any remaining curd, and refrigerate to set for at least 30 minutes before serving 

Lemon Almond Biscotti

For most of my life I was confident in the knowledge that I don't like biscotti. I just don't. It's just a damned hard biscuit, and often lacking in flavour. Like... why would I choose to go for a hard bread to soak up my coffee? Where's the fun in that?

Then my colleague brought a bag of pistachio biscotti back from Tuscany and I experienced an actual life altering moment. I didn't even want to eat them, but my current team member cajoled and coerced me into having one and boy oh boy, I've been lied to my entire life. The "biscotti" I've been served in the past were all liars and impostors. It's a big change, to now suddenly, after 27 years, be a person who likes biscotti.

Like it enough to actually make my own... who knew? Anyway, my first batch of biscotti is simple and non-intrusive in flavour. Lemon goes well with tea, but I love it with my coffee too. To be honest, I wanted to make orange biscotti, but when I was ready to bake last night, I realised what I thought were oranges in my fridge were actually grapefruit. Sigh. These twice-baked biscuits are ridiculously easy to make though, so I'll likely make a few more batches this week (midweek public holiday, hollaaa).

Lemon Almond Biscotti
Yield: 20 pieces of 3/4 inch thick biscuits

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup almond flakes

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper
2. Mix the olive oil and sugar in a large mixing bowl, then mix in the vanilla extract, almond extract, and lemon zest 
3. Beat the eggs in one at a time and beat for a while until incorporated
4. Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl and gradually introduce to the wet mix. Continue to beat on slow-medium until fully incorporated
5. Stir in the almond flakes with a rubber spatula
6. Divide the dough in half and transfer to your prepared baking sheets, shaping the dough into two logs (roughly 4 inches across and 9 - 10 inches long). It's a very sticky dough, and you're welcome to get your hands dirty, but I managed it with just my rubber spatula and a spoon
7. Pop the trays into the oven to bake for 30 minutes (with the fan on), remove from the oven when done, allow to cool for 10 minutes then slice the logs across (3/4 inch slices) and put them back on the trays cut side up 
8. Bake on one side for 9 minutes, then flip the biscuits over to bake for another 9 minutes on the other side. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before dunking in your coffee or tea, or store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks (if it lasts that long)

Cooking with Papa - Seafood Spaghetti Aglio Olio

Yesterday I finally got my father to agree to sign up for my first ever cooking lesson! Imagine this... a man who has managed to avoid cooking an entire meal from scratch (there was a period of 2 months when he had to reheat mum's pre-cooked meals in Gabon while she went home to Malaysia to give birth to Mark) for over 50 years... saying he wants to learn to cook. How could I not totally jump on it?

So earlier this afternoon, just before it started pouring down with rain, I dragged him to the grocery store to pick up ingredients (we have enough supplies, but I figured he should learn the entire process for the first time). I was going to teach him to make a vegetable tian and easy roast chicken, but on the way there, he said "I love spaghetti aglio olio... is that easy to make?"

Heck yeah. The easiest.

Before I continue to gush overmuch about how proud I am, let's just get on with the recipe.

Seafood Spaghetti Aglio Olio

• 500g spaghetti
• 100g breadcrumbs
• Fresh Italian parsley
• 1/2 cup (or thereabouts) extra virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, diced
• 3 dried chili peppers, crushed
• 5 sundried tomatoes, chopped
• 6 medium sized fresh squid, cleaned and sliced across (I made him clean them)
• 500g fresh prawns, peeled and deveined (hahah he hated that part)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt to season

1. Cook the pasta in a pot full of boiling salted water until just before al dente, remove from heat, drain and toss in a knob of butter (optional), then set aside in serving dish while you prepare the dressing

2. Toast the breadcrumbs and finely chopped parsley in a preheated oven for about 5-8 minutes, remove and set aside for the last step

3. Drizzle some olive oil in a heated open frypan, then add the diced garlic, chili, and sundried tomatoes and toss until softened and the aroma starts to fill the kitchen.

4. Add the prepped squid and prawns and cook until just done. Season with salt to taste. There should be a lot of liquid in the pan from the squid and prawns. 

5. Pour the mixture over the pasta and toss to mix thoroughly. Drizzle more olive oil and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over to toss in as well. 

6. Add the breadcrumbs and parsley garnish and add more salt if needed
7. Serve immediately! 

Well, it was an easy dish to begin with, he's got it saved on his phone for future reference. I really hope this won't be the first and ONLY time we cook together. It was so much fun, and from the sounds of it, he's really looking forward to making another dish next week. Maybe we'll try that vegetable tian and some milk roasted chicken. Mmmm

World's Best Cake

What do you bake for your mother on her birthday? Out of all the recipes in your multiple recipe books, favourite blogs, magazines, and Pinterest board... which is the one that is good enough for the woman who brought you into this world? I thought long and hard about this, and finally decided to try Sweet Paul's "World's Best Cake", as it seemed like nothing less could possibly be worthy of the world's best woman. I'm sure most people out there would say the same of their mother, but in this world, in mine, Dayang Norjanah is the holder of that title.

So let's get to this World's Best Cake... An excerpt from Sweet Paul's website:

"This cake was awarded the title of Norway’s National Cake a few years back. It’s called verdens beste in Norwegian, and I agree that it just might be the world’s best. You may be skeptical of its superiority, since it isn’t iced as are many American cakes."

In fact, the reason I decided to go with this recipe is because it's not iced, or frosted, or whatever you like to call the action of putting rich sugary butter/cream cheese based beautifiers over a cake. My mum's not a fan of frosting, and while I find it terribly frustrating that she scrapes the stuff off whatever cake I make, I have to say that personally... I find it a little too much as well. So a cake that has a crispy pavlova-like meringue to act as a frosting seemed like just the way to go!

The first time I tried the recipe, I followed the instructions to a T and was not quite fond of the outcome. The cake was a bit too dense, and it lacked a certain something to just cut across the meringue layer. Not to say it wasn't wonderful, but just in our house, we like it slightly different. So I hope I'm not committing a sacrilegious act by changing the recipe and sequence a wee bit, but the instructions in this post are the ones I use at home. For those who would like to try the original, you may find it here.

World's Best Cake - the lemony version
Adapted from Sweet Paul Eat & Make

• 150g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 2/3 cups caster sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 4 egg yolks + 1 full egg
• 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup milk
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 5 egg whites
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C, grease and line 2 6" round springform pans
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy, then add in the 4 egg yolks and 1 egg and beat until fully incorporated
3. Combine the flour and baking powder, then add half to the butter mixture. Add all the milk and lemon juice, beat until combined, then beat in the rest of the flour mixture
4. Divide the batter between the two pans 
5. Whisk the egg whites and caster sugar until soft peaks form, then fold in 1 tbsp of lemon juice. Spread the whites over each layer of the cake and bake for 35 minutes 
6. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing onto a wire rack to cool completely. Whisk the cream and vanilla bean paste until stiff peaks form, then dump the whole thing onto one layer of the cake and top with the second layer. Chill in the fridge for up to an hour before serving 

Lemon cake with Passionfruit glaze

I made this cake weeks ago to bring to a friend's house over Chinese New Year. For a while I wasn't sure if I was gonna share the recipe, but I revisited it the other day as my dad's quite a fan. Also, as I'm going through my Passionfruit Period, I have quite a store of the fruit in my house I needed to use up. I think this may be the last passionfruit recipe I share for a while (or maybe not).

This cake is soft and light, with a sweet and slightly tangy passionfruit glaze on top to give it a twist. Perfect for afternoon tea with a bitter black tea or coffee. It's also a super easy recipe to whip up at the last minute for a friend's do. I don't remember where I got this recipe, but have had this in my book for ages now... if anyone knows it's origin, please leave a comment and I'll edit it in. Thanks!

Lemon Cake

• 125g butter, room temperature
• 220g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 250g natural yoghurt
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 300g all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line an 8" round baking tin with butter and baking paper and set aside
2. In the large mixing bowl of your mixer, cream and butter and sugar until incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
3. Then in one go, dump in the remaining ingredients and beat until well mixed, but take care not to overbeat the batter as this will result in a dense cake
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake at an angle comes out clean
5. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the tin for 10 minutes before taking it out and letting it cool completely on a wire rack

Passionfruit syrup

• 2/3 cup passionfruit pulp
• 2/3 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup water

1. Place all the ingredients for the syrup in a heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. When the mixture comes to a boil, lower the heat and let the mixture reduce to a thick syrup
2. Drizzle the syrup over the cake with a spoon, tease it around the top of the cake to fall gently off the sides and trickle down til it almost touches the cake plate 

I would recommend serving this cake fresh upon the day of baking, as it's soft and moist still. I've baked this in the past for my dad and mum put it in the fridge overnight, which of course just resulted in drying it out. I'm not a fan of refrigerating cake unless absolutely necessary. 

Easy homemade lemon curd

Sundays tend to tread the very thin line of sadness and happiness, leaving most of us wistful for the short break we just wasted. Not to say that every weekend is wasted, simply that by 5pm on a Sunday afternoon you try to think of what you did all weekend only to come up with a list of things you didn't have enough time to do.

Okay, enough with the sob story. I had a really good weekend; lots of time to read, write, bake, and even got to spend quality time with some friends over some really good meals. What really captured the beauty of my time off was this wonderful lemon curd I made to just have on hand when I feel a little blue. There's nothing quite like fresh, home made lemon curd to spread on a hot pancakes, a piece of toast, or in between two fresh sponge cakes.

Lemon curd is easily accessible in supermarkets, but for those of you who like to tinker in the kitchen to cheer yourselves up, then lets take some time out of our busy schedules to whip up this simple but rewarding recipe.

Lemon Curd

• 3 lemons
• 1 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 120g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 5 egg yolks
• Salt

1. Zest the lemons and whizz the zest and sugar in a food processor until the mixed thoroughly
2. Transfer the sugar and lemon to your mixing bowl and beat in the butter until light and fluffy
3. Beat in the egg yolks until combined
4. Now transfer the mixture into a saucepan and heat over a small flame, stirring frequently for 20 minutes. The mixture should thicken gradually, but don't turn the heat up to hurry the process as this will scramble the egg yolks and you'll end up with a rough curd
5. Remove the curd from the flame, and cool to room temperature before transferring the curd into a jar to refrigerate

Thomas the Tank Engine Cake!

I had another recipe lined up to share here, but I just wanted to share this cake I made over the weekend for a friend's son. Okay, so he's more, actually, my boss, but whatever. Semantics. Anyhoo, his son turned two last week, and he (the little boy, not my boss) is currently obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine (choo choo!), so I was asked if I could make a cake for roughly 50 people and in the theme.

Didn't think I could do it until I did. You all know how scared I am of working with fondant! I was actually toying (heh heh) with the idea of sculpting a Thomas the Tank Engine out of cake, but with limited time on my hands... it was safest to just go with a toy to perch on top.

The birthday boy with his new toy :) 

The cake is two tiers, the bottom tier being my favourite chocolate beetroot cake, and the top tier is vanilla bean cake with lemon curd filling (mmm!). I have yet to share the recipe for that, but I've got another birthday cake to bake this coming weekend for one of my dearest friends which I'll be using that recipe on. With some changes, as after the first time, I think there are minor adjustments I'd like to make. Anyway, I'll wait and share that version once I've tweaked it. 

For now, enjoy the joyful pictures of Oli's Twoo Twoo cake!

And if you would like to order a kid's birthday cake, please email me at nabmac@gmail.com or ring me if you have my number. I would appreciate two weeks notice so I may plan it around my day job :)

Much love! Had so much fun at the birthday party, thanks Andrew & Serena for trusting me with your son's birthday cake! Throwing in this pic of me on a giant revolving teddy bear lol

Coconut Lemon Bars

This week has been a practice in listening and keeping mum; our 13th General Election took place on Sunday, and as with every election that happens in every country, there are people who are happy and there are those who aren't. My close friends and relatives all know that my personal political views have always been quite liberal, with my top personal causes being a quality education for all (key word: quality), and equality for all (come on, who are we to tell others that their skin colour/genitals/love/faith is less than ours?). 

Beyond that, I am tied to none of the political parties currently in play in our system, possibly because the word "politics" itself has nothing but bad connotations in my mind. I believe in truth, and the dissemination of truth from every responsible and rational human being (hey, that includes the "nobodies" sharing unverified shit on facewaste, got it?) to the wider population. What one person says, if untrue and not backed up by unshakable facts, can open up a major can of worms that just spreads and then infects the entire game of truth. 

As one who is very familiar with the internet, and understanding how things go viral (no matter how ridiculous or irrelevant), I've always believed that people need to check their effing sources before clicking the effing share button. Seriously, guys, I've photoshopped, spread memes, and reblogged enough nonsense to be able to discern what is and what isn't, yet so many people don't realise that just because someone said it, it doesn't make it true! I'm not pointing fingers at any one side, but people need to take responsibility over sharing opinions and facts because there is a large part of the population who wont take the time to check the source of your information, and take your opinion as fact. 

I'm just standing on my soapbox, pontificating now, so what does politics have to do with my coconut lemon bars? Nothing, except that I whipped this batch up while watching the electoral count on TV with my family. I was so stressed, so shocked at a lot of the things I was reading on Twitter, Facewaste, and other platforms, that I needed to occupy my hands with something besides clenching and unclenching my fists.

So, a lot of you have tried lemon slices, and lemon meringue pies, and key lime pies, and the such... but this was my first time pairing coconut and lemon, and I'm surprised that it worked as well as it did! Now I'm just thinking of other possible ways I can capitalise on this combo. Maybe a coconut cake with lemon curd? MMM Mother's Day is coming up, I might just try that this weekend! 

(Click on the image above to zoom for the recipe)

Anyway, let's go back to the nation for a second: my friends, I love you all, even though I may not agree with some of the views being said by quite a lot of you (both sides of the divide), I hear what you're saying and I understand the frustrations and the strengths of both views. In an ideal world, we could pick and choose the best of both worlds and put it in one completely new and independent system, but this is far from an ideal world. Quit comparing our nation to other such countries like the US, because baby, I hate to break it to you... they're in the same sinking ship we are. 

It is not politics that drives the country, it is the people and what we do individually. We have to stop expecting some greater power to dive in and fix all our discontent, there is no Utopia. Even etymologically, the word Utopia is derived from the Greek word Utopos (eu-topos) meaning "good place", and also I suppose Thomas More was being punny, "ou-topos" which means "no place". A perfect system is nonexistent.

There was no real point to this post, it was a full opinion post, and I also threw in a fantastic recipe for coconut lemon bars which I love and will probably make again and again and again. Lots of love x Nabs

When life gives you lemons...

You zest that bitch like crazy and incorporate it in all your desserts.

My favourite colour in the world is yellow, specifically Mustard Yellow. I have several items in this shade scattered around in my room, my house, my car, my office, etc. My latest favourite item is this Moleskine 2013 Le Petit Prince daily planner. Two of my favourite things combined? REALLY?

So you can imagine how enamored I am by these little yellow lemon shaped macaron shells. I'm gonna go right into the recipes for these this post, no back stories to tell, no personal life updates, as well... whatever's been happening is all still new and exciting, and I'm not up for sharing. Yet.

Let's get down to business and defeat the Hunnnsssss, and play this track in the background while you bake up these lovely little dots of sunshine :)



Lemon Macarons with Cream Cheese filling

• 100g aged egg whites
• 1 tsp powdered egg whites *optional
• 110g finely ground almonds
• 2 tbsp lemon zest (air dried for at least an hour)
• 200g icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 50g caster sugar

1. Line two baking trays with parchment paper
2. Run the ground almonds, lemon zest, icing sugar, and salt in the food processor for roughly 30 seconds, then set aside
3. Whisk the egg whites and meringue powder in your large stand mixer bowl until soft peaks have formed
4. Gradually add the caster sugar to the egg whites, and continue to whisk until stiff peaks form
5. Here's the tricky bit (but easily overcome by watching a few youtube how to vids): dump the dry mixture into the meringue, then with a spatula, just fold it in. Don't overmix.
6. Once you've possibly achieved the correct consistency, transfer the batter into a piping bag, snip off the edge and then pipe out 1" circles onto the baking trays, roughly 1" apart. Then quickly, after piping out each circle, use a toothpick to drag out two sides before the shells harden
7. When you've piped everything out, bang the trays on the counter 3-5 times, ensuring that all the macaron-to-bes have been banged sufficiently lol 
8. Leave the trays out for 30 minutes to an hour, and then bake in a preheated oven at 150C for 18 minutes
9. Let the mac shells cool completely before removing them from the paper or they will peel and break off from the bottoms
10. Pair the shells up with similar sized ones, then pipe in your filling and sandwich them together

Cream cheese filling (I used leftovers from another cake I'd made)

Some Like it Cold

Some of you may remember the friend I posted about not so long ago who left our consulting firm to start up his own ice-cream business, Mr Tat Wei. He recently finalised the brand and company name, and has been making waves in the desserts and treats loving community of KL (that's Kuala Lumpur, the big city of Malaysia). A few bloggers have already started reviewing his new flavours, and have done a great job of providing the technical background of his flavour and skills. So as I don't pretend to know a lot about food (except to know what I like) I'm going to jump right onto that delicious bandwagon by showing the different ways you can enjoy Forty Licks Ice-cream! Everyone, dessert lovers, overheated people of Malaysia, I hope you throw out your half-eaten cartons of whatever store bought ice-cream you currently have sitting at the back of your freezer, and order yourself a carton (or be like me and get 3!) of handcrafted, extravagant ice-cream from Forty Licks, cos one lick is never enough ;) 

Congratulations again, Tat, you know that despite my slight envy that you're doing exactly what you're passionate about at the moment, I'm also incredibly happy for you and so excited to watch the business grow into everything you dream it to be. I love your ice cream, and love you, Tat! You know that we all know you can totally rock this!

I thought to celebrate this landmark achievement with one of my personal favourite flavours by him: Earl Grey tea. This flavour and I have history, as I like to believe that I inspired him into crafting this flavour to go with my Earl Grey cupcakes (though he already mentioned it before LOL).

This time, I'm going to pair his ice-cream with lemon sugar cookies fresh from the oven. Imagine the freshly made ice-cream sitting in between two soft, hot, crumbly cookies. Mmmmm what a way to spend a Saturday evening! 

If you're going to have Earl Grey, you had better do it properly and have it with lemon. 

Lemon Sugar Cookies

Recipe from Life and Kitchen

• 2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 1 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Shallow bowl of caster sugar, for rolling (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line baking trays with parchment paper
2. Whisk the flour, soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar with the paddle attachment until fluffy
4. Beat in the zest, egg, vanilla, and lemon juice
5. Roll tablespoon portions of the dough into balls and into the sugar before popping them only the baking tray
6. Bake for 10 minutes, remove and leave to cool completely on a tray, THEN scoop out an appropriate amount of Forty Licks' Earl Grey ice cream and sandwich it in between two cookies. Eat immediately. 

It's been so long since I've enjoyed an ice-cream sandwich, and having it fresh from the oven with homemade ice-cream from a good friend is even better! I was babysitting my siblings this afternoon while playing in the kitchen, so I obviously called them in to be my minions. We had so much fun making these neat little ice-cream sandwiches, then racing to eat them before the ice-cream could melt. The lemon flavour in this cookie is strong too, though in future I might not roll it in sugar to counter the sweetness of the ice-cream. 

Back to Tat Wei's ice-cream, friends in KL, if you're going to make Earl Grey cake or lemon cookies, I recommend that you order a pint of Forty Licks' Earl Grey and go all out. He's got a range of amazing flavours, most of which I have tried, though my personal favourite is the Salted Caramel. My mum is a huge fan of his Honey ice cream, my dad loves his Earl Grey, and my brother goes nuts for the Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter. 

He also does sample individual-serve cups, so you can order a variety of flavours to test. This is something new that I haven't tried yet, as I already know which flavours I dig so I just go and get a whole pint. But for my dad's upcoming birthday, I may be ordering some individual cups to give out to guests, and also something for me to whip up a fancy dessert with. 

Coming up, a special recipe incorporating Forty Licks' Pistachio ice-cream! 

To order or gush over Forty Licks if you're already a follower (I make it sound like a cult, which it kind of is in our office), check out his facebook page, bookmark his upcoming website (it's in construction, so watch that space), and follow him on twitter if you're a proper addict:

Forty Licks Facebook Page
Forty Licks Ice Cream official website 
@xFortyLicks on Twitter
018-383 1840 
tat@fortylicksicecream.com

All the best, Tat Wei, and hope you don't forget us little people when you  reach the top. 

xx Nabs

I'm not cool

Hey you,

Let me tell you a little something about me: I'm a loner; I'm not popular, but I have a solid group of really good people I call friends. I love reading and writing fiction, and sometimes... I may have issues distinguishing between fantasy and reality. I like dorky things like my talking, prophetic Yoda doll (I call it doll, it's probably called an action figure or whatever), my Mr Potatohead, the handmade Ron Weasley amigurumi that I got from Jan, working for hours on ridiculous photomanipulation projects for my friends on SnitchSeeker, HA! Snitchseeker, and only I know how much longer that list goes on.

My idea of a well spent weekend involves sitting in my various super comfortable pajamas, reading great fantasy/sci-fi novels, watching episode after episode of whatever I may have stored on my hard-drive, and sitting next to the pool/beach/large body of water for hours on end with a glass of ice-cold Malibu/pineapple.

I don't do too well in loud, dark, crowded spaces. I never know where to put my hands, and that said, I get all light-headed when I stand for too long. When going out, I'm always more comfortable in pub-style settings, where they play good, familiar music, decent steady lighting fixtures, and I can have decent conversations with my friends that I'll remember fondly on Tuesday morning as something that may have profoundly altered the way I look at things.

I've only ever been in two proper romantic relationships in my life, both of them in my early 20s, and within 3 years. Before that I was too shy to talk to people, and since them I've been too afraid. So here I am now, a baker, a writer, a reader, a collector of nonsensical information, and a blogger. It has taken me 2 years to finally like myself again, and now that I'm actually quite happy and comfortable with myself... with knowing who I am, what I like, and what I want, I've been told it's time to drop the wall and just be happy.

Here's how I define myself: I'm comfort food.

Very much like this recipe! HAHA see what I did there?!

Quick Lemon Spaghetti 

• A normal sized pack of dried spaghetti
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped/crushed
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• A cup of chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• The zest of 1 lemon
• Optional: Chopped chicken breast fillets for some protein
• Salt and pepper 

1. Prepare the spaghetti noodles as per instructions, when it's ready, drain the water and set aside in a small amount of leftover water (my friend Jessica told me to drop butter into the still hot pasta and let it ooze through) 
2. Heat the olive oil and butter in a saucepan until the butter has melted, then toss in the chopped/crushed garlic and cook until the delicious aroma of garlic fills the air
3. Pour the olive oil/garlic mixture over the pasta and toss with all remaining ingredients 
4. Optional chicken: You can either grill the chicken separately (season with salt and pepper, squeeze some lemon juice over it and grill on high heat), or fry the chicken in the olive oil when the garlic has softened and infused the oil

I'm starting to really have an issue with my camera, lighting, and setting area. There's a spare room in the back of the house that we use for storage, but after this recent failed attempt at taking pictures of my foodscapades I'm seriously considering turning the room into a working studio area.

First things first: Make space. Which I'll do... this weekend... maybe. Knowing my ridiculous procrastinating ways, that may take a while. Then I need to find some decent light fixtures to replace my old ones (I still mourn those lights...), an umbrella stand, new tripod cos my old one broke into three pieces, and maybe read my camera manual! LOL

Anyway, please don't let that horrible picture put you off the recipe. It really is amazing, hope you give it a shot on one of these busy weekdays. x Nabs

Hummingbird Bakery's Lemon Meringue Pie

It's July already! A few years back this time meant barbecues, beach and island holidays, shopping trips, flip flops, sun-dresses, and fresh cherries at £2.50 a kilo from Sainsbury's. This year, it means our department's Away Weekend, Rainforest Festival in Borneo, bonuses, and for me... a special work announcement.

First up is the Rainforest World Music Festival, which is an annual event held in Kuching, Sarawak over the second weekend of July in the Cultural Village, Santubong. There was a time when I went annually, and after two... or three years of a break, I'm going again this year as one of my friends will be performing on opening night! Amazing, yes? Also, some of my colleagues are heading over, and I thought it would be so much fun to go with this group of girls.

Which leads me to the question of: what baked goodies shall I bring home to Kuching with me? I've got a big family back home, my nan, my cousins, aunts and uncles, and then there are my good old friends, who complain about my subjecting them to food images on this blog as well as on facewaste. I have a fancy for something with a bit of zing... but we'll see... I have two days to plan and bake before my flight. I will welcome suggestions (facebook/whatsapp/tweet at me).

Today's share comes from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook, so for that reason I'm not gonna be able to share the recipe here with you. I do however, have one thing to say: the filling was far too runny for my taste, and I may adjust it in the future so that it yield a more cakey texture in the end.

Also, the recipe calls for the juice of 8 lemons, PLUS lemon zest. I like lemons as much as the next person, but this overload of lemons made me almost gag. So suffice to say... I'm definitely going to have to work on this recipe, to see if maybe I did it wrong, or there's something I can alter to fit my personal preferences.

It makes for a pretty dessert though!

Lemony Rainbow Cake

Everyone and their mother is either baking or ordering a Rainbow Cake these days. It's cute, I admit I gasped the first time I saw that picture on Whisk Kid's blog, and then I'm quite sure I was throwing up rainbows when Sweetapolita posted her Rainbow Doodle cake up. My friends Soraya, Pri and I even went around to an obscure bakery in Bangsar to check out their rainbow cake!

It was delicious... but disappointing. It was more of a tie-dye cake than a rainbow cake.

But when my cousin texted me last week to say that her daughter had especially requested for "Auntie Nabiya" to bake her a rainbow cake for her birthday... I jumped at the chance. I may not ever want a rainbow cake for myself, so this was my first opportunity to try out the colours without having to deal with the excess lying around in my fridge because nobody in my household wants to eat that much colouring on a normal day.

Also, how can I say no when she calls me Auntie Nabiya so sweetly? Darn these little girls and boys, they know exactly how to play their cards with me. It doesn't take much, really, I'm a sucker for big eyes and apple cheeks.

So this particular niece of mine, or second cousin once removed, turns eight today! Eight? I can't quite believe how much she, and the other cousins, have grown up so much. I keep thinking that they're all still five or six, and then they turn around and give me this condescending look, followed by an, "I'm *insert some ridiculously high number here* years old, you know?"

I'm getting old. LOL. Let's just get on with the rainbow cake, shall we?

Rainbow Cake

adapted from Whisk Kid's recipe

• 250g butter, room temperature
• 425g caster sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 425g all purpose flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• Food colouring gel: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and butter and line your 9"inch springform baking tins with parchment. Use as many as you have, I only have 2 so had to bake my layers in three batches
2. In a medium bowl sift the flour, baking powder and salt, then set aside
3. In the large bowl of your mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
4. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until incorporated
5. Then add 1/3 of the flour mixture, beat until just combined, add half of the milk, beat again, and keep doing this until you finish off with the last of the flour
6. Split the batter evenly into six bowls (roughly 1 cup per bowl by my count) and add the colouring until you achieve the shade you want the layers to take on
7. Bake each layer for 15 minutes, or until a skewer poked through comes out clean. Change the parchment paper after every layer if you're reusing the tins
8. Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes before you run a butter knife around the edge of the cake then pop them onto the cooling tray. Once they've cooled completely, wrap them in cling wrap and pop them in the freezer to firm up before you even them out. I left mine in overnight as I baked the layers around 2 am
9. When ready to assemble, take the layers out of the freezer and allow them to come down to room temp

First slice is the deepest... oh man, you have no idea how relieved I was at this point!

Lemony Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• 7 egg whites
• 325g caster sugar
• 360g butter, softened
• 2 tsp lemon extract

1. Cook the egg whites and sugar over a bain-marie, whisking gently until the sugar is completely dissolved
2. Then transfer the mixture into your completely grease-free mixing bowl and whisk for 5-8 minutes, or until the bowl has cooled to room temperature, and soft peaks have formed in the meringue
3. This hurts, but next you throw in the butter, a tbsp at a time and allow it to mix and curdle into the meringue
4. Keep whisking until all the butter is added, then switch to a paddle attachment, add the lemon extract and beat until smooth

More cousins!

Here's another one of the birthday girl being all cute and camera shy

The cake was a huge hit with the 8-25 year old crowd gathered at my niece's birthday party, and I absolutely LOVE how the layers turned out so clean! I was terrified I'd end up with crumbly, uneven layers. But that moment of truth when you cut into a rainbow cake is definitely a moment you'll never forget.

Happy birthday, Double Love,
x Aunty Nabiya

Banana Lemon Muffins

My mother has finally handed me her cookbook, the notebook in the picture above. It's chock-full of recipes she's been hoarding for the past 20+ years, and I've been eyeing it for almost as long as I remember. She's got ALL my favourite recipes in there, and they're all written in her hand, and there are stains and spots in the pages from the paper aging as well as whatever cooking spills she might have encountered.

It's glorious! I love it, and honestly can't wait to try every single recipe, as well as add in my own in the empty pages in the back.

Here's the first:

Banana Lemon breakfast muffins (yum!)

• 110g unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup mashed banana
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

1. Grease/line muffin pans
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and pretty and fluffy
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time
4. Stir in the banana, lemon juice and vanilla
5. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda and flour together.
6. Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture, alternating with the buttermilk (you can use yoghurt or just plain milk as a substitute)
7. Bake at 180 degrees for around 20 minutes

Great to have freshly baked muffins in the house, but these are great to just have ready as well. I usually grab one on the way out the door to serve as my breakfast when I'm rushing to work.

x Nabs

Cupcake Mania

I've got to work on my self-restraint. Honestly. Maybe I'll start tomorrow.

After frosting my White Roses cake, I found myself with quite a bit of frosting still left on my hands... and I figured... why the hell not bake cupcakes to just use it up?? It would be like making mini versions of the actual cake, that I can give to people who won't be getting a slice of the actual!

Great idea, Nabs!

Only then, one thing led to another and Michelle (my cousin) and Elyza (sister) asked if they could learn how to make cupcakes. I won't even pretend that I agreed because I am a loving sister and cannot say no to those girls (whom I love and adore and would do anything for, just fyi). Nope. I agreed to show them, right then and there, because I was still on a flour high. I wanted to bake, I wanted to combine stuff, and I wanted to enjoy the feel of that mixer whirring under my hand.

HELL YEAH!

... In retrospect, I can understand now why the housekeeper thought I was behaving oddly.

But whatever! We made a batch of cupcakes to match my white cake, using the exact same ingredients only this time in a cupcake pan... And another batch of chocolate cupcakes with raspberry buttercream frosting. You might recall the cake I baked for Adam last weekend... and so did the girls.

Small versions of both!

I don't have a problem, right?

x Nabs

Weekend in a White Garden

What do you get when you combine a simple white cake with fluffy lemon buttercream frosting?

Cellulite.

LOL just kidding (but not really), you get a cake, silly!

During the week, I find myself inexorably drawn towards cooking sites and the cooking sections of the bookstores. I now realize that what I've been doing is storing recipes and getting ideas for what I can bake during the weekends! So this week, I decided I wanted to try a simple white cake as I've never tried one that didn't come out of a box before.

I was also so inspired by Amanda's (from iambaker) rose covered cake that I decided I wanted to give it a shot. My experience with frosting is (as previously stated) very limited, and as such I don't own much equipment for decorating cakes and the such. Fortunately, last week I stumbled upon this amazing store in town called the "International Centre of Cake Artistry". This store supplies everything and anything I could possibly think of using for baking.

This, of course includes a Wilton 1M tip. Let's just leave it at that for now, I don't really feel like telling the internet (which might include my mum) what I bought.

The best thing about having a very large extended family is the fact that there is a birthday to celebrate almost every other week. This might come as a pain if you're one of those people who buy stuff for others, but it's a godsend when you just need an excuse to BAKE. So this week's cake is for the one and only Indera, my beloved cousin who turned 23 on the 18th of May (same as my brother Adam, of last week's cake). You know I don't mean that, Ind, I love you and felt I owe you cake... even if it's not the flavours you mentioned last week.

My roses didn't turn out as beautifully as Amanda's did, of course, as she is a Goddess and I am still a novice. But I had SO much fun doing this!

Basic White Cake

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (softened, do NOT let it get too liquidy)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius, grease and flour your baking tray (overdo this bit)
2. Cream together sugar and butter
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla
4. Combine flour and baking powder, add to creamed mixture and mix well
5. Stir in milk until batter is smooth and fluffy
6. Pour batter into pan
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or 10-20 minutes for cupcakes, or until you poke a stick through the cake and it comes out clean

Lemon Buttercream frosting

• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 4 cups confectioners sugar, sift and sift again
• 1 cup butter (softened)

1. Cream the butter until it's fluffy
2. Add lemon juice and zest, beat well
3. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time and continue to beat until creamy

Decorating the cake:

Once the cake is completely cooled - seriously, don't mess with this bit, you make sure that cake is NOT letting off any more heat or your frosting will just melt right off and it's gonna look fug. I had to pop my cake in the fridge for 10 minutes before I could frost mine, cos the humidity here on the Equator does not help with the cooling process. Or the impatience.

Anyhoo, once your cake is cooled and leveled (you don't have to have a very level cake if you don't want to) apply a crumb coating and pop it back in the fridge for a couple of minutes. A crumb coating is just to ensure that any stray crumbs from the cake will be stuck down so it won't come off into your final layer of decoration later.

Attach your Wilton 1M tip, or any large open star tip that you have to your decorating bag (a 16 inch bag should be okay for a 9 inch cake, but it's fine if you don't mind refilling) and fill it with your frosting. I can't possibly describe the method of decorating without sounding like a complete dork (start in the centre and go round and round til you get a cool rose), so I'll leave that to the pro: Check out Amanda's tutorial on this cake.

As you can see, I didn't do so well on the roses on the side of the cake. My first batch of buttercream frosting (yes, I realised I needed two batches for this cake) was a little under the desired consistency (smooth, yet not runny) AND coupled with the fact that it was my first time using the 1M tip and trying to create this rose effect. So the roses are a little shoddy. Also, I didn't space them very well so there's a lot of filler "petals" in there too. Still love it though!

Now I know you're probably thinking "... wait... she didn't mention cupcakes!"

(:

xx Nabs